Institute of Advanced Mathematics. It was 11: 30 am.
At this moment, Deligne was checking his email. He was preparing to pick a thesis that he was interested in from the Annual Mathematics and Mathematics Chronicle editorial departments. He was going to review it during his lunch break.
He skimmed through the headlines, but at that moment, he suddenly froze.
[Any even number greater than 2 can be expressed as the sum of two prime numbers.]
Goldbach's conjecture?
Deligne narrowed his eyes and opened the email. He then looked at the abstract of the thesis.
Even though Annual Mathematics had a double-blind review rule, this rule wasn't strictly enforced for famous scholars.
For example, people who liked to post their thesis on arXiv before submitting would be notified by their peers. Another example would be the abstract. The grammar and wording of the thesis could be easily guessed by the author.
Without a doubt, this thesis was written by Lu Zhou. After all, this was not the first time Lu Zhou had reviewed his thesis.
Deligné read the thesis line by line and frowned.
Suddenly, he looked at the PhD student sitting nearby and said, "Smith, when you go to the cafeteria, bring me a bacon sandwich and coffee."
The PhD student named Smith stretched and stood up. He then said, "Okay, professor … Do you plan on eating in the office today?"
"Yeah," said Deligné as he turned on the printer. He then took out his glasses and said, "There's an interesting thesis waiting for me."
…
Five days passed by and Lu Zhou did not hear anything. It was like his thesis was thrown into the water.
On the sixth day, he suddenly received an unexpected phone call.
It was from Qiu Chengtong.
Qiu Chengtong only said one sentence.
"You proved it?!"
When Lu Zhou heard this urgent question, he paused for a second. He then nodded and spoke.
"If you're talking about Goldbach's conjecture … I did prove it."
After hearing Lu Zhou's answer, there was no response from the other end of the phone.
Because he was too surprised, Qiu Chengtong did not know what to say for a moment.
He had met many talented Chinese mathematicians, such as Tao Zhexuan, who was teaching at the University of California, Yun Zhiwei, who was teaching at Yale, and Xu Chenyang … They had all made outstanding research achievements in their respective fields.
However, Lu Zhou was undoubtedly the most dazzling one. At the same time, he was also the one who surprised him the most.
He only suggested that Lu Zhou work towards Goldbach's conjecture. He did not expect Lu Zhou to prove it.
After all, regardless of whether it was the sieve method or the circle method, they had reached the end of this problem. Even though he had accumulated enough experience in prime number research, it was impossible to solve this conjecture in a short period of time.
However, Lu Zhou's performance had completely exceeded his expectations …
Taking a deep breath, Qiu Chengtong asked seriously, "How confident are you?"
Lu Zhou thought for a bit and replied, "More than 90%."
In fact, he wanted to say 100%. After all, even the system approved his steps. However, it was better to be low-key. Who knew what kind of questions the reviewer would ask? He was 100% confident, but he was not 100% confident that it would be approved.
Old Qiu heard Lu Zhou's answer and nodded.
His research direction was mainly partial differential equations and differential geometry. He even did some research on mathematical physics, but he did not study the field of analytic number theory. Therefore, he could not evaluate Lu Zhou's thesis from an academic point of view.
However, if Lu Zhou could say that he was 90% confident, then even if there were problems, it would just be a matter of modification.
Old Qiu paused for a second before he said emotionally, "Ever since Mr. Hua Luogeng passed away, the Hua Luogeng school of thought has been suppressed, and the entire number theory community in China has not been able to recover. To be honest, I was surprised that you could prove Goldbach's conjecture. Originally, I thought that researching Goldbach's conjecture would definitely help you deepen your understanding of prime numbers. Even if you couldn't solve the problem, you would still be able to learn something from it … It seems like I underestimated you. "
The Hua Luogeng school of thought was the internationally famous "China Analytic Number Theory School". This school was also known as the Shuimu school.
As for the two mountains that Old Qiu mentioned, although Lu Zhou did not specify which two mountains, he could guess from the grudges between Old Qiu and Yan University.
However, he did not want to be involved in these things. Therefore, he just smiled and did not respond.
Old Qiu paused for a second before he smiled and asked, "When you graduate, are you interested in being a professor at Shuimu?"
Lu Zhou thought for a bit before he smiled and replied, "I'll probably be a professor at Princeton for two years. After I return to China, I already promised Academician Xu that I'll teach at my alma mater. "
When Qiu Chengtong heard Lu Zhou say this, he did not say anything else. He just nodded and said, "Okay then, it's good that you're at Jin Ling University. The biggest taboo in academia is to have a monopoly. Only by gathering the opinions of a hundred people can there be a collision of ideas and sublimation. Jin Ling University is a good place. It's not far from the academic circle. It's good that you're willing to study there. "
Going to Shuimu was tantamount to standing on the opposite side of the Yan University school of thought. Old Qiu seemed to be aware of this.
If Lu Zhou was just an ordinary scholar, he would definitely invite him to Shuimu at any cost to revive the Shuimu school of thought and compete with the other top schools in the country.
However, Lu Zhou's talent had reached the point where Old Qiu could not bear to see him waste his talent outside of academia.
At least for the period between 20 and 40 years old, Lu Zhou's talent should belong to academia, not the academic circle.
After the two chatted for a while, they ended the call.
However, when he was about to go eat dinner, his phone suddenly rang again.
This time, it was his supervisor, Professor Deligné …
…
Because of Professor Deligné's call, Lu Zhou came to the Institute for Advanced Study.
Ever since he took a leave of absence, he had not been here for more than two months. He almost got lost when he entered through the side door.
When Lu Zhou finally found his office, he knocked on the door.
Professor Deligné looked at the student who walked into the office and took off his glasses.
"I've read your thesis … But to be honest, Goldbach's conjecture is beyond my research field. I can't make a decision on this kind of major mathematical conjecture, not to mention that I'm your supervisor."
Lu Zhou understood Professor Deligné's words.
After all, Goldbach's conjecture was not the twin prime conjecture or Polignac's conjecture. Even though it was not as important as Fermat's last theorem, its difficulty was worthy of being taken seriously by the entire mathematics community.
When he submitted his thesis to Annual Mathematics, he did not specify an academic editor. The technical editor of Annual Mathematics threw the thesis directly to Deligne. Deligne was probably undecided about this thesis.
Lu Zhou went straight to the point and asked, "What do you need me to do?"
Deligné: "I'll arrange a one-hour report for you at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study. All you need to do is prepare a PowerPoint and a speech. If you don't know what to do, I can send someone to help you. Also, I need you to provide me with a timetable and tell me when you're free. "
Lu Zhou asked, "My time isn't a problem, but … Are there any academic conferences scheduled?"
He had been paying attention to the academic conferences. If he remembered correctly, there were no important conferences scheduled for the entire month of May.
"No, but it doesn't matter," said Professor Deligné. He paused for a second and said, "Your research results are enough for other scholars to come to Princeton."
Professor Deligne's words were concise and to the point.
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